An NHS physician has made an urgent appeal to patients, requesting them to take a simple but impactful action. He believes following his guidance could significantly help in freeing up critical healthcare appointments for those in need.

Securing a GP appointment in the UK is a known challenge, often exacerbated by high demand and staff shortages, varying by region. The situation is further complicated by patients who neglect to cancel appointments they no longer require.

Dr. Suraj Kukadia, an NHS doctor, took to TikTok to urge his audience to “please cancel” their appointments if they are no longer necessary. Known on social media as Dr. Sooj, he shared insights from his own professional experiences.

He explained, “I’ve encountered numerous instances where patients schedule appointments weeks in advance for issues like leg pain, back pain, coughs, or colds, only to find that by the appointment date, the issue has resolved itself.”

“Instead of canceling the appointment,” he noted, “many patients still attend, just to explain that the problem has resolved on its own.”

Dr. Kukadia expressed his disbelief, drawing an analogy: “It’s baffling because people wouldn’t take their car to a mechanic just to report a noise that’s no longer there, only to find everything is working fine now, would they?”

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“If your symptoms have resolved, please consider cancelling your appointment and freeing it up for someone who might actually need it.” However, in the comment section he clarified that this is not the case for more serious symptoms.

For example if you have been coughing up blood or experiencing chest pain that’s now stopped you should still speak to your GP. 

How this affects the NHS

In 2019, NHS England said that more than 15 million general practice appointments are being wasted each year because patients do not turn up and fail to warn surgeries that they will not be attending. This mans around one in 20 sessions scheduled with GPs, nurses, therapists and other practice staff are missed  without enough notice to invite other patient.

Of these, around 7.2 million are with busy family doctors, which adds up to more than 1.2 million GP hours wasted each year – the equivalent of over 600 GPs working full time for a year. At the time, the health body said that each appointment costs an average of £30, putting the total cost to the NHS at more than £216 million pounds on top of the disruption for staff and fellow patients.

Other options

Certain symptoms and issues do not always require a GP appointment, as there are other services that can help. On the NHS website it says: “Before you make an appointment with your GP surgery, think about what other services might be able to help.”

It advised that you can:

• Go to a pharmacy for advice and treatment for common illnesses, aches and pains that do not need a prescription
• Call NHS 111 if you have an urgent medical problem, but you’re not sure what to do
• Visit 111 online for urgent medical advice for people aged five and over only
• Visit a sexual health clinic for testing for sexually transmitted infections and contraception advice

You do not have to make an appointment or register for these services.